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sabv 2012
himself/herself. The Pope referred to this as “sickness of the spirit”,
with reference to the West, and, with reference to Africa (the
developing world), a spiritual toxic waste which the so-called first
world was exporting and contaminating the people of other continents
with.
Here briefly are five contemporary manifestations of this sickness
of the spirit:
1. The first manifestation is self-sufficiency: Man is only the product
of human culture; and he evolves/fashions himself independently
of human nature and any universal laws inlrerent in his being.
Thus man is the author of himself, of his/her life and of his society;
and not only does he/she replace God, he/she does away with God
completely. 8
2. Secondly and as a consequence, man thinks he/she owes nothing
to anyone, except to himself. 9
3. Thus disconnected from the common good and objective moral
law, man now seeks in majority opinion, however unstable it may
be, the basis for the determination of the morality of law, giving the
impression that norms are created solely by consensus.
4. A technocratic ideology idealizes technical progress and entrusts
the entire process of development to technology alone. It produces
an intoxicating sensation of man’s self-sufficient ‘autonomy’ and a
misguided notion ox ‘absolute freedom. Whatever is technologically
possible can be done, without regard to any norm or ethical
considerations. 10
While each of these ideologies can be rebutted with historical
and philosophical arguments, such debate rarely wins the day. It
may be more effective to consider a deeper form of poverty, namely,
isolation. “If we look closely at other kinds of poverty, including
material forms, we see that they are born from isolation, from not
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being loved or from difficulties in being able to love. Poverty is often
produced by a rejection of God’s love, by man’s basic and tragic
tendency to close in on himself, thinking himself to be self-sufficient
or merely an insignificant and ephemeral fact, a ‘stranger’ in a random
universe. Man is alienated when he is alone, when he is detached
from reality, when he stops thinking and believing in a foundation. 11
All of humanity is alienated when too much trust is placed in merely
human projects, ideologies and false utopias.” 12
Instead, with her rich patrimony of values and principles,
the Church and her Christians are invited to resist the toxic ideologies
and help others become aware of their true identity and dignity as
sons and daughters of God, establishing democratic institutions, and
recognizing human rights and their corresponding duties; 13 and the
various social ministries of the Church are responses to this challenge
and invitation.
Christian Ministry for integral Human Development
A true understanding of Church ministry starts with the faith
experience of the ecclesial community itself. Responding to God’s
revelation of his love and truth in Jesus, people are transformed by
the power of God’s word and re-socialized by His love in the Holy
Spirit.
This new social reality, the eccesial community, proclaims
the love and truth of the Trinitarian life which surrounds it. 14 From
this experience, people become subjects of love and of truth, called
to become;
• agents of a new freedom and a new way of thinking, instruments
of grace and communion, spreading the Good News of God’s
love, weaving networks of love and of truth.
• builders of an earthly city which anticipates the heavenly city of
God.
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